Contest Review 1: Being as Communion

Just due to the nature of things, I don't have a lot to say about this one. The author is the Metropolitan of Pergamom, and seems to be knowledgeable in a wide range of theological writings, both ancient and modern. Much of the work is a critique of certain trends in western Christianity, namely a downplaying of the work of the Holy Spirit (it all comes back to filioque for these guys), a lack of understanding of the nature of God's own communion within the trinity (ok, does anyone really understand that), and a lack of true catholicity in the eucharist. While I feel myself saying, "I bet he's right" about much of this, the world of Orthodox theology is just so foreign to me that I have a hard time understanding, much less evaluating what he argues. I hope that a few years down the road I'll come back to it again and be able to draw more from it.